Warlock Issue 5 was published in 1985 and was the first anniversary edition of this series of publications and the last to be published by Penguin Books, with Games Workshop taking over from the next issue.

This was presented as a multi-player wilderness adventure quest set in the north-western corner of the land of Kakhabad. The area the game takes place in is inhabited by the Great Apes detailed in the "Out of the Pit" section immediately previous. The game was presented as a boardgame, with the board printed on pages 26 and 27 as a centre-spread.

This was a two page introduction to the book Maelstrom by its author Alexander Scott. The introduction explained the concepts behind the book and the premise upon which it was based. It argued that the logical progression from Fighting Fantasygamebooks was to take up role-playing games (RPGs) getting away from the inherent limitations of solo gamebooks (such as only a few choices from any paragraph,and you can’t play them with your friends. It made the point that most of the RPGs around at the time were expensive, ranging upwards from about £10 – and even then you may need accessories of one kind or another. Although acknowledging that Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-playing Game went some way towards providing an inexpensive start in role-playing, it also said that it lacked the detail to be found in other RPGs.

This was where Maelstrom filled a gap because it was described as a full-blooded RPG, with the advantage that it is in paperback and thus fairly cheap. The setting for the book was to be somewhere in the "real" world – to add both realism and excitement. The sixteenth century was chosen because the world at large was just beginning to open out, and ships explored and brought back treasures from every part of the globe – the gold of the Incas, artefacts from China and Japan etc. and in England itself, as in the rest of Europe, the number of wanderers on the roads increased dramatically, with every type of profession represented and many adventures to be had along the way.

The accompanying artwork was by Anthony Kerins and was taken from the book Maelstrom.

Both Superheroes and The Aliens of Arcadion were changed from their provisional titles to Appointment with F.E.A.R. and Rebel Planet respectively. Interestingly the section claims that the schedule has changed again, yet features exactly the same titles (minus those titles by this point now published and bar the new additions of Superheroes and The Aliens of Arcadion) in the same order as the listing in the previous issue.

This section dealt with "bugs" that had been found by readers in the Fighting Fantasy books. The one noted in this issue was to do with The Shamutanti Hills (248), which originally instructed the reader:

“

that you’ve been given a Vial of Glue (along with other artefacts), but when you later come across the Night Creatures in paragraph 123 and try to cast the GUM spell, you are told that you cannot cast this spell because you don’t have the Vial of Glue.[1]

”

The spotting of this error was credited to a Simon Fisher of Bromwich and it was said that this would be changed in subsequent reprints (although it never was and the error remains, even in the Wizard Books editions).

It was advertised that two ranges of Fighting Fantasy figures were to be produced by Citadel Miniatures. The first would be "Fighting Fantasy Figures" in plastic and it was said that they should already have been available through games, model and hobby shops. The figures were described as being around 60mm tall and featured a selection of Fighters, Barbarians, Orcs, Skeletons, Wizards, Goblins, Zombies, and Ogres with which players can design their own FF adventures, either conducting skirmishes using the basic Fighting Fantasy rules or in role-playing adventures using Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-playing Game. The figures were described as each being provided with a selection of weapons, helmets and a shield. Importantly, a special set of Fighting Fantasy paints together with a poster for guiding painting was advertised. The selling price was said to be 65p with the exception of the larger Ogres and paints which would be "a bit more". The magazine also said that Citadel’s "best designers have been used to create this range."[2]

The second range that Citadel were said to be working on were a boxed range of metal figures modeled straight from the illustrations in the gamebooks. The first three will be The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, The Citadel of Chaos and The Forest of Doom. Although the magazine said that these should be available in the latter half of the year (i.e. 1985), the actual release of these figures is unconfirmed.

First mentioned in issue 3, the PuzzleQuest books appear here once more. They are described as large hardback books, beautifully illustrated with full-colour plates. Two are described, both involving quests in which "readers must search carefully for the answers to problems which are hidden in the illustrations and also in the text."[2] The books were said to be harder to solve than the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. The first mentioned is Steve Jackson's The Tasks of Tantalon, illustrated by Stephen Lavis. It said that it would be available around July/August time. The second is Ian Livingstone's The Casket of Souls, illustrated by Iain McCaig available by Easter 1986 (it was eventually published a couple of years later).

Notably, this was advertised as something that would be released towards the end of 1985. Made by Citadel Miniatures, the Fighting Fantasy Battlegame would come in a box that would be a large, three-dimensional dungeon in polystyrene, with movable walls to allow players to design their own dungeon layouts. Included in the box would be a selection of 60mm plastic figures with different weapons, dice and special Fighting Fantasy rules so that players could conduct their own Fighting Fantasy dungeon adventures with up to six players. A Battlegame set was later released but in a very much more understated packaging environment, and with less accouterments.

Players are formed into teams and must immerse themselves totally in the world of monsters and magic. A full range of modern stage and drama equipment will be made available, along with video, lighting, sound, make-up and costume.[3]

At the time of publishing this issue of the magazine this had been play-tested and was apparently at the artwork stage on Albie Fiore’s desk at Games Workshop. It was said to resemble the book quite closely.

Interestingly, this elusive but wonderful map of Kakhabad was advertised. To coincide with publication of The Crown of Kings, Penguin Books had commissioned Sorcery! artist John Blanche to paint a large full-colour poster of the map of Kakhabad. The poster, showing such detail as the various Sorcery! creatures illustrated around their homelands, was made into a poster available to readers. It was already available because the article said that "Some of you will have seen the poster already on sale around games and hobby shops."[3] It was also reproduced to scale on the back cover of this issue of the magazine. The price of the poster would be £1.95 plus 35p postage and packing (from Games Workshop).

The facelift of The Citadel of Chaos was announced ("A new cover has been commissioned for The Citadel of Chaos, as we have long felt that the previous cover was not quite in keeping with the style of covers that has become characteristic of the FF series. The new artist is Ian Miller, who has already made an appearance in The House of Hell!")[3]

This comic saw the return of the characters and continuation of the story first presented as the winner of the "Cartoon Competition" in issue 2. The comic again was by Ian McDonald and filled two pages.

This section had letters from readers published and responded to by the editor. The Grand Wizard of Penguin is often referred to as a "boss" figure. A particular subject highlighted in this edition was the potential creation of a "Fighting Fantasy Club", although it appeared no plans were yet being made.

This issue’s mini-adventure was a runner-up in the Warlock adventure competition in issue 1 and was written by Jonathan Ford. The adventure introduced a number of new creatures to the Fighting Fantasy world including the Mud Dragon, very short Elves, and the location of Sapphire City. It was illustrated by Bob Harvey and John Blanche.

This was sent in by Gavin Fudge from Astley Cross in Worcestershire. It was designed to test the reader's knowledge of the Fighting Fantasy world and was supposedly "devilishly fiendish" because the answers were not printed nor would they be:

“

Sewer Snakes that we are, we will never tell adventurers how to get out of the Maze of Zagor or how to solve the Kissing Ritual of Courga. Let’s face it, if we did, we’d destroy the puzzles in the books, wouldn’t we? Anyway, if you really do want the answers, there’s one sure way of getting them ... go through the adventures and solve them![4]

The colour advert on the inside front cover was for the Fighting Fantasyplastic miniatures made by Citadel Miniatures.

The back inside cover featured an advert for the Fighting Fantasy series of gamebooks, featuring the first fifteen books.

The back cover itself was a scaled down version of the full colour map of Kakhabad by John Blanche which was produced as an advert for the Sorcery! series. This same illustration formed the wraparound cover for the Sorcery! Box Set that contained all four Sorcery! books.